Rivetra Week 2015
by hunntea
Summary: Prompts written for tumblr's Rivetra Week 2015.
1. Runaway

"Have you ever thought about… running?"

He stopped writing mid-sentence and looked up at the soldier that was sitting in his room.

"Running?" Levi repeated.

"Yes, running," Petra replied. She made a running motion with her fingers, hoping it would explain what she was talking about. He raised his eyebrow. What was she talking about?

Dropping his pen, he folded his hands behind his head and laid back on his chair. His eyes closed and he let out a sigh. "What do you mean by running?"

"Like," she bit her lip. Maybe she should stop talking? Maybe she should change the topic? But his eyes were open now, and set on her. "Running," A deep breath. "Running away, Captain. Have you ever thought about running away from all this? From the military?"

Her eyes met his. She searched for any sign of emotion that would give her an answer. Whether the answer be positive or negative, she didn't care, she just needed to know.

His chair creaked from the sound of him repositioning himself so he could sit up straight. Putting his hand to his chin, he said, "Yes." His answer was simple, easy. He served no explanation for why, and Petra began to think she didn't want to know.

Until she opened her mouth. "Why?"

She didn't mean to ask. It had slipped out.

His eyes casted downwards, looking at the paper he was writing on moments ago before she spoke. Should he tell her? Should he give her the entire story, or just another simple answer?

"Because," he started, "I was alone after the death of two friends." It all came out in one tone, his voice never wavering. The tone only let out a hint of sadness, remorse, and regret.

This was not the way Petra wanted the conversation to go. She wanted to ask more. Who were his friends? Did they join together? At the same time? Friends from his child hood?

She decided that she couldn't keep looking at him; she turned her face so she was looking at a book on his nightstand and her eyes started to water only a little bit. She choked back a sob. "I'm sorry."

"Have you?"

For a moment she had to let his question process. She had forgotten what the conversation was about. Running away.

Her answer was yes. She didn't think about it often, but it was something that has always been in the back of her mind. Running away from the military, running away from the responsibilities that came with being in the survey corps, and running away from the possibility of being eaten by a Titan. She thought about running away to a different location, where people wouldn't think of finding her. She thought of running away with _him_. With the man she called captain.

But she couldn't say that now. Not when he had told her something so devastating.


	2. Ephemeral

The sound of a lighter brought him back. Soon after, the smell of nicotine. The smell of smoke. He remembers where he is and who he is with. He remembers how he ended up in this situation; this situation with a red-headed look alike. What he doesn't remember is her name and why he decided any of his actions were a good idea.

He hears the woman next to him exhale. The smell of smoke as well as the view of it circling around them and the bed.

"What's wrong, Lee?"

Lee wasn't the name Levi gave her, but right now, he couldn't care less. It's not like they were ever going to see each other after tonight.

"Hey," the woman said, the sound of the sheets moving indicated that she was putting out her cigarette. After, she switched the lamp on her side of the motel bed on, causing him to shield his eyes for a second using his hand.

"What's wrong?" she repeated.

He let his hand off his face to look at her.

And for a moment he sees.

For a moment he sees shining strawberry blond hair. For a moment he sees large, fiery eyes. For a moment he sees thin eye brows that match that same shade of hair.

For a moment, he thinks everything was the way it used to be. He thinks he is back in his own home, with iher/i. He thinks he smells her scent, he thinks he hears her voice, and he thinks he is in the comfort of his own bed with Petra. He wants to reach out for her.

For a moment he is caught off-guard.

Only for a moment.

A trick of the light. He is brought back to reality. Brought back to the motel room, in a messy bed, with a stranger whose name he doesn't even care to remember. He is brought back into a world without her.

"Hey. What. Is. Wrong." Is repeated slower.

He scowls at her. "Nothing."

"Okay, well I'm heading out for the night," she tells him.

He waits for her to leave but he remembers why she is here in the first place. iOh, right/i.

"Go ahead and reach into my wallet, I don't have shit in there but money anyway."

She shoots him a look, but shrugs and gets off the bed anyway, already in her undergarments. How did she even put them back on without him noticing? Did he even take them off in the first place?

Though he has nothing in his wallet, he watches her open it anyway. Letting her open it, he realized a few seconds later, was a mistake.

"Who is this?" she asks, pointing to a picture of a young woman smiling at a fancy restaurant table.

"A friend," he told her. She was more than a friend.

"She's very pretty." Pretty was an understatement to him.

"Yes. She was."

For a moment, he lets himself go back to seeing Petra in his mind. Beautiful. Bright. Amazing. And alive.


	3. Criminal

Levi stopped dead in his tracks and moved his body to face his friend who, he thinks, had gone mad.

"The what, Jean?"

His friend smirked. Jean had caught his attention. He gave the shorter guy a shrug and repeated himself, "I said," he started slowly, "I guess you're gonna miss the… panty raid."

There were a lot of ideas in his friend's brain. Earlier this week Jean had recommended that they ditch their psychology class to go to some Esports meeting, and neither of them play competitive games.

Levi said nothing, making Jean think that he had no idea what it even was. "A panty raid is when you raid someone's drawers or closet and take some panties from then and—"

"That's stupid."

"It's a fun idea!"

"That's like a _criminal_ act, Jean."

"It's gonna be fun!"

Levi sighed and walked back to the coffee table that they both had been sitting at. He had nothing to do today, and Jean had asked him to go out. He didn't want to be rude and just leave. Jean, however, took that as a yes for his panty idea and proceeded to say his plan out loud. Levi interrupted him in the middle of his first sentence, "First of all, this idea is still stupid," he told him. Grabbing his hot cup, he took a sip of the coffee that his friend so generously bought for him. After setting the drink down, he opened his mouth again, "Second of all, I never agreed to do this, so you shouldn't bother telling me whatever plans you have in store."

Jean wasn't up for quitting. "At least hear me out," he told him, with his hand up, stopping Levi from saying anymore. This elicited another sigh from Levi and he nodded his head to signal Jean to continue with whatever nonsense he was about to say. Putting his elbow on the table, he made his hand into a fisted and rested his chin on it, also another signal for him to speak.

Smiling, Jean cleared his throat and continued, "So, it's Thursday right?"

Levi raised an eyebrow. He wanted to say some smart remark, but he bit his tongue and gave a slight nod.

"You know what that means?"

"No, I don't."

"It means," Jean started saying, tapping his index finger on the table, "that it's basically everyone's Friday."

"So?"

"So," he replied, "that means that everyone will be out partying or something or watching a movie or whatever we crazy college kids do."

Levi was still confused. What did the days have to do with panty raiding? When is he going to get to the point?

Jean stopped poking at the table and slammed his hand on it instead, "We are raiding one of the sorority houses tonight!"

The slam made Levi jump a bit, but he tried to keep his face calm and collected. He sat up straight and let his arms fall in front of him on the table. He didn't want to seem interested, but his mouth told a different story, "Which sorority?"

That smirk from the beginning began to creep its way on Jeans face once again, "I knew you'd be wondering, my dear friend."

"I wasn't actually wondering," he heard Levi mumble under his breath.

"Which sorority is Petra in again?"

"Alpha Sigma Kappa," Levi replied without giving it a second thought.

Jean gave another almost evil look towards his friend, "That one."

"Petra, come downstairs!"

Petra looked away from her mirror and her eyes stared at her open door. "What is it?" she yelled back at who she thinks is Ymir.

"We're leaving soon! Are you almost ready?"

She gave herself one more once over and decided that her outfit for tonight was suitable for whatever bar her sisters wanted to go to tonight. Most likely the one with the most pool tables, since everyone in the house loved playing. She would recommend a karaoke bar once in a while, but nobody would sway.

One more look in the mirror, one more big smile, and a purse over her shoulder, she was ready to go. "I'm coming!"

With that, she turned off the lights in the room, and closed the door.

She thought her room was safe.

After making sure the house was empty, Jean and even Levi, silently slipped inside Petra's room through the window. They were both in black to help disguise themselves if anyone were to walk in. They spoke to each other in whispers as they tried to adjust their eye sight to the darkness.

"This is the stupidest idea you've ever had," Levi whispered harshly.

"You came didn't you? You're even looking through her room," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. Even with no light on Levi could feel that dumb smile from Jeans face on him.

It was true, though. After their eyes had adjusted to the lack of lighting, Levi was looking through her closet and drawers. Why did she have a big dresser anyway? Did she share this room? Probably. This room was too big for just one girl.

"Jackpot," he heard Jean say next to him. He grabbed a pair and tossed them in Levi's direction. He caught the first one, but dropped it on the floor as Jean started throwing more and more at him. Instead of catching them, he started swatting them away.

"Fucking stop!"

"Fucking stop!" Jean mocked.

But just as he said it the front door opened and voices were coming from downstairs. The boys looked at each other and froze.

"I can't believe you forgot something."

"We were almost there!"

"I'm sorry guys!"

"I'll come with you to the room, I think I might have forgotten something to!"

They heard the voices of the two girls coming closer and closer to the door. The closer they got, the more frantic Jean and Levi acted as they tried to search for a hiding spot. It shouldn't have been that hard, but they were in a panic.

Just as they were both about to crawl under the beds, the lights switched on and Historia and Petra walked in on the two boys trying to fit under their beds. Simultaneously, they screamed.

"Jean!" "Levi!" They said at the same time.

The boys stopped in their tracks and admitted defeat then and there. Needless to say, both Historia and Petra were in shock and angry. They were also full of questions such as:

"What are you doing here?"

"Why is the room a mess?"

"Why the HELL are there clothes on the floor?!"

Neither of the two panty raiders answered. Petra looked at them for answers, staring a few seconds longer at Levi. She thought she could get an answer out of him. "Levi, tell me now," she demanded with her arms crossed and her face in a scrunched up, mad sort of way.

Levi, feeling embarrassed that he had gone through with Jean's plan and got caught, said nothing and stared at the floor. His feet shuffled to step back further behind Jean.

"Tell us now, or we'll call campus security, Jean," Historia threatened.

This made Jean and Levi's eyes widen, so the first of the two cleared his throat. "You see, Ladies," he started off, "Levi and I were really late for rush week for all of the fraternities. So, we asked if we could possibly do a late initiation for one of them and they said yes. And the initiation was this panty raid—"

"Bullshit, Jean. This stupid idea was all yours!" Levi cut in.

Jean whipped his head around to face his short friend and gave him a look of disbelief, "You agreed to the plan! Right when I said it was Petra's house we were going for you were on board!"

"I was not on board—"

"You guys!" Petra's voice cut in, silencing them both. They turned to the two girls in the room and looked at each of their faces. Levi noted that her face was red. It could have been because she was angry that they were here or because the mention of her panties had come up in a conversation that led to this whole mess.

She put up her index finger. "One, you guys are terrible at these panty raids."

Historia put up two fingers. "Two, those are MY panties," she pointed out.

Jean snickered and looked back at Levi and shrugged. "Guess they weren't hers."

Upon hearing this, Historia leaned in close to Petra and whispered something in her ear. Levi tried his best to make it out, but since he was the one farthest away from Petra in the room he could only catch something along the lines of "Petra… this… funny." The two girls giggled and Petra's face wasn't blushed anymore. Instead, there was a devious smile on her face.

Looking straight at Levi, she held up three fingers, "And number three, Mr. Ackermann," she began, singling Levi out as her smile became even more prominent on her face, "If you wanted to see my underwear so bad you should have asked."

With that, both of the boys jaws dropped to the floor as Petra and Historia began to laugh uncontrollably.

It would take around two minutes until they stopped, became angry again, and kicked them out of their house.


	4. Dance

"Mom said you have to be there."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Levi said as he parked the car in front of his cousin Mikasa's middle school. He unlocked his car doors, took the keys out of the ignition, and as they got out, he slammed his door and pressed the lock button on his keys. Mikasa let out a small smirk as she watched her older cousin stuff his keys into his pocket. He was way too grumpy to be chaperoning a middle school dance.

Mikasa was dressed up as a black cat. It was something that she could easily dress up as. All she bought were the ears and the tail and she was ready to go. She even bought Levi a matching set. Being the nice family member he is, he wore it. But he didn't go so far as to put whiskers on his face. That was one thing he did not want to do.

They walked straight to the entrance of the gym, where the dance was being held. They both peeked through the man standing at the door to see how many people were there. Not many. In fact, he only saw adults there. All the kids that showed up early were waiting in line until the dance actually started. Levi checked his watch. 5:40. The dance didn't start until 6:00. But, as a chaperone, the paper said he had to be there a bit early.

Just as he and Mikasa were about to walk in, a hand stopped him. "Sorry sir, the kids can't get in until the dance starts!"

The man who stopped them was way taller than Levi was in comparison. So, he had to look up at who was talking. The guy had a brown suit on with a red tie. His hair was blond and his face was oddly square. He also wore a name tag with "Mr. Smith" written on it. Probably the principal. Levi took notice that he wasn't really wearing a costume, much like himself, but he was wearing a sailors hat. He was smiling down at them, which made Levi feel like he was being mocked for his short stature, but he decided not to make a big deal since a bunch of pre-teens were right next to them. He forced himself to smile back at the man before looking at Mikasa.

Mikasa shrugged at him, and without a word she went to the back of the line were her friends were.

"As you were, Mr. Cat! Come right in!" The Mr. Smith man said as he gestured Levi to come inside the gym. Before stepping in, Mr. Smith stuck a name tag that said "Chaperone" onto his jacket.

He took in his surroundings. All the gym light were on, which was probably for the best because there were still people running around putting decorations up. It looked like any Halloween themes Junior High dance. There were bats hanging around the ceiling, dry ice was used around the punch bowl, and decorative pumpkins and cobwebs were on the tables. Not too bad.

"Oh, great! Another adult! Over here, Kitty!" a voice said across the gym. He looked in the direction the voice came from and spotted a red headed lady wearing a track suit with a sweatband around her head. He gave a half scowl in her direction for calling him "kitty", but proceeded to go towards her anyway.

She was busy tying up little baggies full of candy when he made his way to her.

She met his eyes and gave him a big smile. "You must be another chaperone. There were so little volunteers this year, so any help is great! Thanks for being here," she told him. Her voice was high, but it sounded natural. She made his cheeks feel hot.

Maybe he should have let Mikasa paint on his face.

"Yeah, uh," he was going to say that he, in fact, didn't volunteer but he thought otherwise, "I had nothing else to do tonight." _Nice one, Levi. Nice._

The smile never left her face, but it seemed to get brighter and brighter. "Wanna help me tie up the rest of the goodies?"

He didn't want to say anything stupid, so he nodded and went straight to the bags. Looking at them closely, he decided they were nice. Glittery, purple plastic bag with little candy corn decorations. The tie was plain black. Simple, but nice. He made his own face of approval to himself.

"I'm Ms. Ral, by the way. Petra if you want to call me that," she was saying as she introduced herself. "I'm the P.E. teacher here."

Levi hummed in response. _Ms._ Ral? So she isn't married. He thought about that a bit longer until her hand waved in front of his face. "Huh?"

"I said what's your name? Who's your kid?"

He blinked at her. "Oh, I don't have a kid. I'm single," he said without thinking. _Yeah, like she wanted to know if you were available or not_. "I'm here for Mikasa Ackermann. That's my younger cousin. My name is Levi," he said quickly. Maybe she didn't hear that he said he was single.

Her sweet smile turned into a smug, "Okay, Levi who is single. It's nice to meet you." Her hand extended out to him and he took it.

"Likewise," he responded. He tried to keep his face as neutral as possible while shaking her hands. They were pretty soft for a Phys Ed. Teacher. He'd imagine athletic people with rough hands, but maybe she moisturized them often. He wouldn't know, though. He wasn't athletic himself.

Petra cleared her throat and he snapped out of his thoughts once again. Her eyes drifted to their hands, still holding, still shaking, only faster than they had started.

He quickly withdrew his hand and muttered an apology, to which she replied with a little laugh.

"I have Mikasa in my class you know. She's a real fast runner," she told him.

He couldn't help but feel pride for her. "Yeah, she's atheletic."

Petra's smug look returned, "I bet you're ath—"

"The party starts in 7 minutes!"

Petra let out a playful shriek and gently nudged Levi, "We have to finishing tying these up!"

For the next 7 minutes they said nothing, only frantically trying to get the bags of candy done.

Levi tied up the last bag and they set it aside in a hiding place so the students wouldn't find it. He looked at Petra, who was wiping fake sweat from her forehead. "What a work out!"

It was his turn to purse his lips in a tiny smirk. "That was about the most exciting thing I did all day."

"I know right? I live for tying bags of candy for students. It's the only thing I look forward to every year," she joked.

"Do you dance, Mr. Ackermann?" she asked as they made their way to the food table. The adults had to hand out the food in the beginning to make sure every child ate something for free. Then everything would have to be paid for. A dollar for pizza, a dollar for soda, 50 cents for treats like marshmallow bars; the works.

"Not really," he told her. "I don't dance." His hands went up to adjust his cat ears. A bad attempt to hide his being nervous around the teacher.

"Aw, too bad," she said teasingly. "I wanted to ask you for one dance."

"Did I say I don't dance? I meant I only dance with PE teachers."


	5. Maybe

Being in Junior High isn't necessarily a bad time. Sure, people are going through awkward phases and sure puberty is slowly getting to everyone, but other than that there really isn't anything to worry about. Unless word gets out about someone having a crush. Then the whole school wants to know who is crushing on who all of a sudden.

"Did you hear who Eren had a crush on?"

"Mikasa, right?"

"No! I heard him say Annie!"

Those were the kinds of conversations that were currently going on during their history period. There was a substitute, someone by the name of Mike? Levi couldn't be any more uninterested. Substitutes for him meant homework period so he wouldn't have to do it at home.

"Hey, Levi," he heard a high voice call. He exhaled loudly and looked away from his math homework that he was concentrating so hard on. He really hated being bothered.

"What is it now, Petra?" he asked in a voice that said _I'm busy and you ruined my train of thought, but I'm trying not to seem irritated._

Petra couldn't care one bit that she had distracted him from his work. It was his fault he decided to sit behind her when the school year started.

"I was wondering if you had Mr. Pixis for English?"

He shook his head at her. "I have Mrs. Dawk, remember?"

She gave him a playful pout. "Aw, man. I was wondering if you wrote that "how-to" already. But I think since we have different teachers the assignments might be different, huh?"

Levi nodded. "We're not doing that until next month, I think."

"Well thanks anyway, buddy," she told him as she got up from her chair and went to where Rico was sitting, probably going to gossip about what everyone else was talking about. Who liked who or whatever.

Just as he was about to go back to his work, he felt a tap on his right shoulder. He exhaled louder than the last time and turned to see who decided to bother him this time.

"Did you hear that Connie has a crush on that girl who eats in my elective class all the time? Sasha?" he asked him.

Levi rolled his eyes. Erd couldn't think that he would be interested in hearing all of this "Who are those people again?"

"The bald one and the one with the red hair?"

Vague images of the two appeared in his mind and he nodded, signaling to Erd that he knew who he was talking about now.

He turned back around to face his homework again, but he was still catching himself talking to Erd. "Why would I care about this?"

"Because relationships are about to blossom left and right, Levi," his blond friend told. Levi didn't even have to look at him to know he was thinking about his new girlfriend. They've been going out for two weeks already. Probably the longest relationship he has ever witnessed from his group of friends and acquaintances.

Levi grumbled in response. In his mind, relationships were still icky and gross. Why would people want to show public affection anyway?

"I don't care," Levi told him. He wasn't even planning on doing his homework anymore. He has been bothered way too much for his liking, so he might as well keep talking to Erd.

"Well," Erd continued on, "do you like anyone?" he asked.

"No," Levi replied quickly.

He looked up at Erd again, who was standing tall and scanning their classroom. "Rico?"

"No."

"Bummer. You guys are like almost the same size. Plus you guys hate everything right?" Erd said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Shut up, I do not hate everything," Levi glowered at his friend.

"Historia?"

"No. Why is she even in this class anyway? Isn't she a year younger?"

Erd shrugged his shoulders, "Beats me. Whatever."

His eyes scanned the room again. Levi tapped his fingers on his desk, waiting for Erd to say more names.

"Hanji?" Erd said with a smirk.

"Fuck no," Levi said through gritted teeth.

Erd started laughing, "I thought so. I just wanted to see how you would react! Calm down!"

Levi's glare came back. Nothing was wrong with Hanji, only that Hanji once gave him a stomach ache by feeding him "cool stuff" that was made in the kitchen. And Hanji sent him to the nurses office once because they tackled him during flag football.

Once more, Erd's eyes scanned. His eyebrows raised and his mouth formed a sly smile with one final guess. "What about Petra Ral? You guys seem to talk a lot in this class you know."

The shorter boy sighed, "She sits in front of me. Of course we talk a lot. We almost always have to be partners for projects."

"Didn't you choose to sit behind her, though?"

Levi didn't say anything. He only pursed his lips together. He couldn't deny it because it was true. Everyone in the class knew.

"Well?" Erd urged. "Do you have a crush on her?"

He thought about it. Petra was cool. Whenever she bothered him it was because she wanted to say something to him, not because she felt like torturing him today much like his friends do. The color of her hair was nice. Whenever she graded his papers she liked to write a smiley face and replace the dot in the "i" of his name with a little heart. She was shorter than him.

"Maybe."


	6. Confession

"You know that means you basically said yes right?" Erd told his short friend.

"What? No it doesn't," Levi replied back with a confused look.

"Yes it does, man."

Rico gave Petra a weird look. "Levi? The one who sits behind you Levi? The one that Hanji sent to the nurses office that one time Levi?"

"Shh, don't say it so loud!" was Petra's response as she brought her index finger to her lips and her other finger to her friends. Her head whipped to wear Levi was, but he seemed to preoccupied talking to Erd.

She sighed a breath of relief. He wasn't paying attention. Good.

Her friend waved her finger away from her mouth. "Why him?"

Petra closed her eyes as she shrugged once. When she opened her eyes again, she looked up at the ceiling. "Well..," she began. Where should she start? "Well… I think he's cute."

"Levi is at least a 6 out of 10," Rico deadpanned.

Petra pouted. "Not to me!"

"Hey, my girls! What's going on over here?" came Hanji's voice. Petra looked at Hanji and smiled while Rico looked at Hanji and said: "Petra has a crush on Levi."

Hanji didn't look a bit surprised. Instead, Hanji looked at Rico like she knew all along, "Rico, seriously? How could you not know?"

"How could you know?!" Petra butt in, her face pink in embarrassment.

Hanji looked back towards Petra. "You literally stare at him all the time. It's kinda hard to miss when you basically try to follow him around during lunch time."

Petra looked down and fiddled with hem of the shirt she was wearing. Was it really obvious? She didn't think so. Oh, no. She thought she hid her feelings quite well. But I guess nothing could get past Hanji.

A smirk appeared on her four-eyed friend. "Did you want me to tell him? I can tell him right now, I was going to go over anyw—"

"Absolutely not!" Petra replied in a hushed tone so only her two friends could hear.

Hanji grabbed the chair from the desk that was next to Rico's and sat herself at Rico's desk. She made a fist with her hand and rested her chin on it. Rico laid both her hands on the table, folding them. Both girls seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Why don't you tell him today?"

Upon hearing that, she gave her little small scowl to both of them. "I don't want him to know," she admitted, hands still fidgeting and face still bright with pink. "I feel like it'd be too weird, you know?"

Rico and Hanji looked at the strawberry blonde and then looked at each other. "Let's call Levi over," they said simultaneously. Which emitted and groan from Petra.

"Please guys no no no—"

"Levi, come over here for a second!" Hanji raised her voice in his direction. Rico looked over as well and Petra tried her best to keep her cool and slap away the pink that was growing in shades by the second. They all watched Levi make a face at Hanji that said 'don't call me over.' Hanji chose to ignore it and used her hands to tell him that they all wanted him near Rico's desk right away.

From that short distance, they could call hear him sigh. But, he got up anyway and started walking towards them.

"Why does this class period seem so long?" Petra whined as he got closer. "Rico, tell him that we just have to ask him a math question, please," she begged her friend.

Rico put her hands up in defense, "I am not getting involved in this confession any further."

"Welcome to the girls corner, my short raven-haired dreamboy," Hanji announced as he made his way closer to the table.

Levi shoved his head into his pockets and glared at Hanji, "Don't call me that," he, for lack of a better word, pouted. "What did you want anyway?"

Grabbing Petra by her sleeve, Hanji brought her closer to her and Levi's conversation space. "Petra has something she wants to say to you!"

Petra looked everywhere but at Levi. She could feel the pink creep back into her checks and her hands automatically grabbing the hem of her shirt. "Well…" Hanji urged.

She looked at Hanji, then at Rico, then back at Hanji like they were the answers to all of the problems that she was facing right now. To be honest though, they were the cause of whatever was going on right now.

"Uhh Levi," Petra mumbled. She started shifting her weight on her left foot, then her right, then her left again.

"What's up?" he responded. His eyes were fixed on her and it was almost impossible for her to not look back at him, so she decided to look up and stare at his forehead instead of his eyes.

"I…," she started.

At this point she could feel Hanji and Rico leaning in closer to hear what she would say more clearly.

"Or n-not I. Do you…," she trailed off again.

Hanji and Rico couldn't be anymore closer at this point without making it obviously awkward.

"Did you need something?" Levi asked.

"Yeah, I was gonna ask if you…," Petra started asking. She didn't know what she wanted to say at this point. Her face was all pink. _Oh my god, he has to know. I'm dying. I'm dead. I'm switching schools._

"Hm?"

"I was gonna ask if you… had a dollar?" she could hear Hanji's muffled laughter and Rico's disappointed moans. Her face began to drop in temperature. "Yeah, a dollar! I don't have enough money to buy lunch today," she said with a smile and new found glee and confidence.

Levi raised an eyebrow. "You were nervous to ask that? Okay, I have a dollar in my backpack. I'll go get it," he said, turning around and walking towards his desk where the backpack was.

Petra looked and both Hanji and Rico and greeted them with her sweet smile gone the nastiest glare they had seen her make all year.


	7. Broken

It had been a lazy Sunday. Nothing to do, nothing to see, no one to hang out with. Petra loved it. Every day she felt as though she always had something to do. But not today!

That is, until she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket.

Hoping it was some sort of telemarketer and not a friend wanting her to change our of her pajamas and get out of her house, she fished her phone out of her pocket and looked to see who it was.

It was an unknown number.

Shrugging, she ignored the call and placed her phone on the coffee table in front of the couch she was sitting on. Just as she was about to grab the remote and turn on the television her phone vibrated again.

"Seriously?" she grabbed her phone once more and looked at the screen. Same number. And, once again, she ignored the call.

Settling herself back down, she grabbed the remote and turned on the television. "How many kidzbop albums are they going to make?" she muttered to no one as she watched the commercial with the kids dancing and singing to today's top 40.

 _Zzt. Zzt. Zzt._

"They just won't quit, huh?" she said to herself as she reached for her phone and slid the screen to answer it.

"Hello?" she said, trying to sound irritated, which she was but she hated the way her voice got; sometimes too high, sometimes too low. Really, it was weird to her how many levels of voices she had.

"Uhm, hey. Petra?" said the voice through the phone. They sounded surprised (probably because she used her irritated voice on them. She only used it when she felt she needed to).

Though the person on the other end couldn't see her, she made a confused face and raised an eyebrow.  
"Levi? Is that you?"

"Yeah. I need a favor."

"Why aren't you calling from your cell phone? Is this a house phone? Is this your house phone? Who even uses house phones anymore?" she asked him, ignoring what he said about a favor.

She could hear him grunt on the other line and the sound made her want to laugh. To her, whenever Levi let out a grunt or a sigh or a grumble, he sounded like a stubborn child. "Yes, this is my house phone. I don't know why we still have one. I think my uncle uses it for work. And I need a favor."

Petra put her television on mute so she could hear him better. "What do you need my friend?"

"I washed my clothes today." He told her.

"Did you need help folding your clothes?" she asked while staring at her muted television. She was trying to read their lips, but instead she was creating her own dialogue.

"Yeah, right. Your mom still folds your clothes, Ral," he teased. It wasn't a lie though. Petra couldn't argue with that.

"Shut up," she hissed, trying to hide her upcoming laugh and cheery voice. "What was your favor?"

She could hear him shuffle around and curse under his breath over something that sounded like it had dropped. "I need to borrow an old phone of yours. I left mine in one of my jeans pockets and washed it and now it won't work. It's like broken or something."

"Uh, an extra phone?" Petra started asking herself if she had an extra phone around. She was pretty sure she had some somewhere in her room. Then she remembered, "Oh, yeah. Sure! I have an old iPhone if you wanted to use that."

"Yeah, that sounds great," he told her. "I only need it for a little while before I go get a replacement."

"Yeah, okay. You can pick it up whenever, I'll go see if it still works with the charger and everything." She told him. Her fingers held the home button for a few seconds to see if it would still start up. And it did! "It works!"

"Alright, I'll be there in like fifteen minutes," Levi told her right before he hung up.

Petra looked at her phone and shook her head. "Does no one like to say 'bye' on the phone anymore?"

Just as Petra was about to turn into the bathroom, her doorbell rang. She grunted because she _really needed to pee._ But, the doorbell called so she went over to where the front door was and looked through the peep hole. There was Levi, standing there in all his short glory. _Nice thought, Petra. Let's save that short glory bit for later._

She unlocked her door, twisted the doorknob, and pulled. "Hey, Levi," she greeted, turning to make room for him to walk by. "Why didn't you call instead of ringing the door bell?" she joked, revealing a sly smile on her face.

"Be quiet," he responded, playfully shoving her arm as they both made their way to her living room where his soon-to-be temporary phone was.

"I took the password off," she explained, "so you can go through it. I think everything should be cleared, but if it's not feel free to delete things. I gotta go to the bathroom real quick." And with that, she half-jogged her way out of the living room and into the hall way where her bathroom was located.

Levi slid his thumb across the screen and out popped up all the apps Petra had forgotten to delete and all the useless photos of old homework assignments in her camera app. He closed the camera app and went to look at what games she had downloaded before. Angry birds. Candy Crush. Flappy bird? This phone was probably from when they were sophomores. All the common games people tended to get addicted to.

Then he saw a messenger app. One that he hadn't seen in a few years. Curious, he went to see if she was still signed in. _Technically it's my phone now. So it's not snooping._

And she was.

He looked at the dates of all the messages. All were old and dated a few years back. She definitely had this phone when she was a sophomore.

He looked at her username: petraaar. His face formed a small smirk. Cute username.

He clicked on inbox and noticed that the first person on there, which was the last person that she messaged, was auruotheman12. It was that Auruo guy who had a big crush on her for a few months, but decided to call it quits since she never really paid attention to his flirting with her. Since it was his phone now, and being the curious guy that he is, his thumb pressed on their conversation.

 _Auruotheman12: hey wanna go see a movie Friday? Not a date, just to chill_

 _Petraaar: uh, sorry auruo, im busy. I have to clean my entire house_

 _Auruotheman12: oh ok ):_

Levi chuckled to himself. Poor guy. But then he remembered that Auruo was actually living a really comfortable life so he silently congratulated him on getting over any crushes he had in highschool.

The next conversation he clicked on was Erd. He knew it was him, because his username was just Erd. He remembered Erd from when they both tried out for the soccer team. Cool guy.

 _Erd: hey pet, did you still like that guy from my team?_

 _Petraaar: which one? Theres a lot of guys on that team LOL_

 _Erd: im talkin about Levi_

 _Petraaar: is he the cute short one? The one who always looks kinda pissed? Because hes pretty cute_

"Hey, I'm back. Sorry it took so long, I had to find toilet paper because we ran out in the bathroom," Petra called out from the hallway.

Levi exited out of the app and cleared all evidence that he had seen it in the first place.

Petra walked into the living room and took a seat next to him on the couch. "Is the phone working fine?" she asked him.

Levi nodded, "It works great actually. Thanks." He slid the phone in his front pocket and leaned back in the chair. Petra followed his actions as she grabbed the remote.

"Did you want to hang around and watch something? I have Netflix," she told him. "Oh! I even have Hulu."

He shrugged. "I don't mind what we watch. Maybe a sports movie?"

Petra kept her eyes on the television, but raised an eyebrow. "Sports?"

"Yeah, like soccer."

Petra started laughing, "Soccer?" She asked. She turned her head to look at him, a smile on her face like she remembered something, "Didn't you used to play that with Erd like 2 years ago for the school? Man did I love watching you guys play."

Levi shrugged again. "Didn't you have a crush on someone on the team?"

"Oh, no. Never," she quickly denied while shaking her head.

"Are you sure you didn't like the short one?" he asked. "The one who always looked pissed?"

"What!" she exclaimed, her smile dropped and her mouth opened wide. "No! Not even! I—" she found herself stuttering at a loss for words. Her face was getting hot while Levi's face was wearing a knowing smirk that said _You had a big crush on me did you?_

"Don't look at me like that," she told him, shoving him away from her on the couch. "No, don't—Levi! Stop smiling like that!" she had managed to get him on the opposite side of the couch.

Though he was already on the other side, Petra kept pushing as if she was trying to push this awkward, embarrassing moment out of her house and into a different universe. Then, he started laughing.

"Don't laugh!" she demanded still pushing.

"You didn't clear your message history," he said in between laughs.

Petra stopped shoving and sat up straight, crossing her arms and pouting her lips. Her face was still red, though she was trying to un-redden it to the best of her ability.

"It's okay," he told her to try to ease her embarrassment once his laughter was at a minimum.

At this point, they were both staring at the television. He was leaning forward, his elbow on his knee and his chin resting on his knuckles. He looked at her knowing that she was going to avoid looking at him the rest of the time he was there. "I thought you were pretty cute, too."


End file.
